ABOUT

Raúl is a Mexican immigrant filmmaker, cinematographer and multimedia creator traversing borderlands and migrant trails. His work intersects experimental non-fiction, participatory filmmaking, and visual ethnography to explore themes of belonging, alienation and the concept of “home.”

Raúl’s films include “Backside” (2025 Tribeca / FICM, 85min.) a feature film about the migrant workforce behind the Kentucky Derby, exploring the relationship between the thoroughbred horses and those who care for them; “Border South” (2019 Sheffield / FICG, 84min.), which follows the clandestine migrant routes from southern Mexico to the U.S.-Mexico border; and “The Stars are the Same” (2025 Aspen ShortFest 12min.), which focuses on the experiences of Eulalia Pedro, an Indigenous Mayan elder who fled war-torn Guatemala for southern Colorado. His films have screened worldwide including at the Tribeca Fillm Festival, Sheffield Doc/Fest, the Aspen ShortFest, the Margaret Mead Film Festival, MASS MoCA Museum, the Guadalajara International Film Festival, and the Morelia International Film Festival (FICM), among many more. His work has received support from the Princess Grace Foundation, The Ford Foundation, the LEF Foundation, ITVS, Catapult Film Fund, the Jerome Foundation, and the Sundance Institute, among others. Raúl is a Camargo Foundation Cassis France Artist Alumni, a Firelight Media Documentary Lab Fellow, a New America National Fellow, a Creative Capital Awards Artist Fellow, and a Guggenheim Fellow.